Westleigh Day Nursery

A ball stranded on a low roof became a shared problem to solve at Westleigh in July 2022: older children discussed how to retrieve it, agreed a plan and watched a practitioner put their idea into action. That small episode captures the nursery's strongest inspection-era character: children contributing ideas, working together and taking pleasure in what they could achieve.

Westleigh Day Nursery cares for children from birth to five at 10 Westleigh Road, Leicester, LE3 0HH, with 44 places in total. Ofsted rated it Outstanding at its 21 July 2022 inspection, highlighting an ambitious curriculum and children's engagement in learning. Full-day and half-day bookings sit alongside a full-time option. For parents, the useful combination is an established inspection judgement and different attendance patterns, rather than a single way to use the nursery.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, this means play supports skills such as communicating, solving problems and learning to get along with other children. Westleigh's July 2022 experiences showed how those strands could meet within one activity, rather than being treated as separate lessons.

During that month, older children used mallets on logs while collaborating on a pretend house. The activity combined handling tools with discussing a shared project. Toddlers steered trikes around tracks and adjusted their movements to avoid one another. These were different challenges for different stages: practical cooperation for the older children and control of movement for the toddlers.

Language also ran through the day in July 2022. Practitioners repeated sounds and words with babies and introduced songs with actions. Toddlers used speech to communicate what they wanted, while older children sustained more detailed conversations. The progression matters: an early response to a familiar rhyme and a longer exchange with an adult both have a place in developing communication.

A short wait before going indoors became an opportunity to think of animals whose names began with particular letters. In another exchange, a practitioner deliberately skipped numbers while counting and children spotted the mistake. Both examples gave children something to contribute. They could test an idea, correct an adult and use what they knew within play.

Outdoor and Community Life

In July 2022, babies explored resources outdoors and began joining other children in play. Older children devised hide-and-seek and ball games, used buckets and pretended to search for dinosaur bones. Outdoor time therefore included imaginative play as well as movement.

The July 2022 roof incident also showed children contributing to practical decisions before an adult intervened.

In July 2022, recently started babies were becoming comfortable with practitioners, and adults helped them return gently to play after waking. Older children joked with staff and sought their company. These observations give parents concrete examples of relationships during the nursery day, including the quieter transition from sleep to activity.

At the July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding and excellent support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, with the special educational needs coordinator and external professionals contributing to children's progress. This is a dated judgement, with practical substance beneath it: oversight of individual needs, cooperation with other agencies and staff supervision formed part of the assessment.

Communication with families in July 2022 included small changes in children's development and adjustments to activities in response to their interests. That matters because a useful update explains how adults are responding to a child, as well as what the child has done. Parents could connect changes at nursery with their own understanding of their child's needs.

Kindness was visible between children too. In July 2022, older children checked on friends who had fallen, while sharing and taking turns featured in play. Alongside adult relationships, these examples show the social demands children were practising with one another.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Westleigh operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas. Its booking options are Full Time, Full Day and Half day, so families can consider different patterns within the nursery's opening week.

The address is 10 Westleigh Road, Leicester, LE3 0HH. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01162554152, by email to westleighnursery@hotmail.com or through the contact form. These routes provide a direct way to discuss joining with the nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with funding stretched across 51 weeks. Funded hours themselves are free, while additional private hours are charged separately. Spreading funding through the year is a different arrangement from concentrating it into term time, so the attendance pattern and the funded allocation need to be considered together.

On days covered entirely by funded hours, with no additional hours booked, a separate sundries charge applies. Lunch and tea are charged separately on those fully funded days. The same charge structure lists wetsuits, wipes and sun cream as separately charged consumables; families who wish to supply their own consumables can discuss that choice with the manager.

The distinction is useful when comparing childcare arrangements: funded hours and the extras attached to a fully funded day are separate parts of the bill. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the charge structure also set out on its Westleigh fees page.

• Choosing a day pattern. Full Time, Full Day and Half day are separate booking options. At a visit, ask how the half-day pattern would fit your family's working day and your child's routine.
• Funding across the year. Funding is stretched over 51 weeks, and days consisting entirely of funded hours attract separate meal and consumables charges. Request a written quotation for the particular pattern you intend to book, including any consumables you plan to provide yourself.
• Care for the youngest children. The July 2022 account included gentle support after sleep and babies becoming comfortable with staff. Use a visit to discuss how settling and sleep would work for your baby now.

Westleigh suits families considering either full-day care or half-day attendance, with a full-time option for those seeking a broader weekly pattern. Its strongest inspection-era detail lies in purposeful play: children handling tools together, contributing to a practical solution and using language throughout activities.

The Outstanding judgement dates to July 2022. The practical decision today is how the chosen attendance pattern works alongside year-round opening and stretched funding, including the separate extras on fully funded days. Those details deserve as much attention as the grade.